In the Light
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. AU - No zombies. Beth Greene loves her life. She is able to perform on stage to packed crowds every night and this is her dream. But sometimes, she just wishes she can take a break and disappear for a while. Daryl Dixon has absolutely no idea who she is and Beth thinks it's fate when she meets him randomly in a bathroom - whether he agrees with her or not.
1. Chapter 1

**Long author's note at the end of this chapter.**

* * *

…

 **One.**

She preferred playing in the smaller clubs even though she could easily fill arenas, as her agent, Eric, liked to constantly remind her.

There was more money in playing the bigger venues and more money meant more money for all of them, but Beth Greene was one of those rare figures with fame tacked to their name that did not truly care about the money. Yes, money had certainly made things easier. Money had made it possible for her to live this life, fulfilling her true passion, but money wasn't the end all, be all to her. Her parents had raised her better than that – as she liked to constantly remind Eric.

Beth liked the clubs because they felt more intimate to her. She could truly see the faces of those who had come to see her – cheering and singing along to her songs, knowing every word that she had written. She had gotten her start in clubs. She had been discovered in one. She had a loyalty to them. And thankfully, she had a manager who understood that even if she had an agent who didn't.

The only problem with playing the smaller spaces was that refusing encores was hard. They had all paid to see her and Beth hated the idea of letting any of her fans down. But her show was supposed to be over at nine, and at five minutes past ten, she was doing her fifth encore. The audience was still cheering and singing along and chanting for yet another encore, not wanting the show to end. Beth's voice was beginning to waiver and her throat was beginning to ache and from the corner of her eye, she could see Aaron off in the darkness, in the wing of the stage, and he was shaking his head. She gave him the slightest of nods before looking back to the crowd, her smile ever present and genuine.

She strummed the last chord on her guitar and then laughed a little into the microphone. "I'm sorry, everyone!" Beth said and sure enough, some boos rose up from the crowd, already knowing what she was going to say. "I have to go or I'm going to lose my voice! Thank you so much for coming out tonight. I love you all and drive home safe! Good night!"

And with one more beaming smile and bow, she unplugged her guitar from the amp and headed off the stage, disappearing into the wing, behind the curtain, and she breathed with relief once she was out of sight. The crowd was still cheering for her and Aaron handed her a fresh bottle of water, one she took a greedy chug from.

"I really have to pee," she said and Aaron smiled widely at that.

"Bathroom and then we have one interview tonight," Aaron said with a gentle hand on her back as he led her to the small backstage room that was hers for the night. "You were great tonight, Beth," he then told her.

"Just great?" Beth teased him with a laughing smile as she hurried through the dressing room and into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

There was a shower in there and Beth was nearly tempted to hop in. The tight jeans and tee-shirt she wore were both sticking to her with sweat, but honestly, she'd rather go back to the hotel where she could take a bubble bath and then slip into her flannel pajamas. As she relieved herself and then washed her hands and splashed water onto her face, Beth felt the exhaustion begin to hit her. Thankfully, she only had one interview to do tonight and hopefully, it wouldn't be one that would take long. She didn't mind giving interviews – it was part of her job – but sometimes, she just wanted to be sleeping instead.

When she came out of the bathroom, Aaron was sitting on the sofa against the wall, scrolling through his phone. Beth went to the mirror and pulled out the rubber band that was holding her hair up, and shook the locks out so they fell around her face. She had recently cut her long locks to almost her shoulders and some of her fans were not happy with the look. Others loved it. Her critics said that it made her look older. Beth didn't see the bad thing about that. She _was_ almost thirty.

Every venue she went to, the owners wanted to know her "demands" for the dressing room and they never believed her when she just had a list of three things. They were used to others wanting so many other things. Fresh salmon imported from Alaska. M&Ms separated into different bowls according to colors. But not Beth. Pears – her favorite, for before the show – bottles of water and cups of Jell-o for after the show. Beth went to the mini fridge now to get another bottle of water and the cup of cherry Jell-o and spoon left for her.

She plopped down next to Aaron. "Give it to me," she said, tucking her legs up underneath her as she peeled the lid back from the gelatin cup.

"Interview tonight with a local music blogger. Then back to the hotel. Tomorrow, the morning is yours until eleven when we have a photo shoot set up for you, trying some jewelry on by a local designer who's on the rise and then we head up to Montgomery where you have a late lunch with the winner of the radio contest. Then we hop on the bus and your next show is tomorrow at seven. Full day."

Beth nodded, letting the gelatin slide down her sore throat. "Sounds good," she said because that was what she always said.

She wished she had more free mornings, or afternoons, or _days_ , but this was her job. She loved writing her own songs and playing her guitar and she knew how lucky she was to be able to do this for a living and making a _good_ living at it.

Her debut album had sold more copies than she had ever imagined it would and after that, she woke up one morning and found herself to be a star. She was in magazines and people wanted interviews with her and she performed shows with people shouting for _her_ and singing along with _her_ songs and on top of all of that, suddenly, paparazzi were showing up and snapping pictures of her.

Her sister, Maggie, and brother, Shawn, loved it. The three had been at the Whole Foods in Atlanta and when they had come out, a photographer had been out there, snapping pictures of them crossing the parking lot. Shawn and Maggie had beamed at the camera, but Beth had nearly broken out into a run with the shopping cart. She hadn't understood why anyone would want her picture – especially in her leggings and oversized sweatshirt – and she still didn't understand it. It was probably the most surreal part of this whole experience that had suddenly become her life.

An almost timid knock came on the closed dressing room door and Aaron stood up to go and answer it. Beth remained sitting on the couch, finishing her Jell-O cup.

The journalist was a young guy. A hipster with his hair combed back and buzzed on the sides, glasses on his face and Beth wondered if he actually needed them, and jeans nearly as tight as her own. She had lost count of how many people she did interviews with who looked just like this man. Nonetheless, she stood up and gave him her warmest smile.

"Hello," Beth said, sticking out her hand. "I'm Beth."

The journalist let out a huff of laughter from between his lips. "Yes, I know. I'm Dan for Poppin' Pop Music."

"Nice to meet you. Would you like some water? Jell-O?" She asked.

"I'm alright, thank you."

Beth sat back down on the couch and Dan sat down on the other end. Aaron had remained in the room and sat down in the chair at the mirror, back on his phone, but Beth knew that he would be listening to every word of this interview. That was why she loved Aaron and was so glad this man had been the one in the club that night, hearing her sing during the amateur open-mic night. Technically, they had only known one another for a year and yet, already, few people knew her as well as Aaron. And while he knew that she could handle these interviews, he also knew that she didn't necessarily like to be on her own during one.

"It was such a great show tonight," Dan began.

"Thank you," Beth smiled graciously, genuinely. "Went on a bit longer than planned. Hence, the Jell-O." She held up another cup and Dan smiled again.

"Do you mind when shows go longer than scheduled?" He asked.

"Not at all," she shook her head. "I would live on stage, if I could. I still can't get over that feeling of having people, wanting to see _me_ , and when they sing along to _my_ songs, it's all so incredibly euphoric. It's my throat that eventually makes me stop."

Dan took a moment to jot down notes to himself in the small notebook in his hand.

He then lifted his eyes back to her and gave her a small smile. "I was hoping I could speak with you about the recent rumor that has been going around about you just in the past few days."

Beth felt her entire body stiffen within a split second. Of course. Who didn't want to talk about that? Thankfully, Aaron and Eric both had managed to keep the piranhas away from her, all snapping her pictures and shouting out questions to her – "Beth, is it true?" – and Beth knew that people loved a good scandal. People loved to watch people fall as much as they loved to watch them rise. And Beth, as music's good-girl sweetheart, if this rumor did turn out to be true, it would be scandalous and delicious for everyone except her.

Her fingers were tightening around her spoon. "I have no comment on that."

Dan lifted an eyebrow at that. "You don't? Not even a general broad statement?"

"No," she shook her head, doing her best to keep her voice steady and calm. "My ex-boyfriend didn't like the breakup and this is his way of reacting to that. I don't have a statement to make against a blatant lie and I will allow people to believe whatever they choose to believe. Those who know me know the truth."

"And you don't think your fans deserve to know the truth?" Dan continued to press.

"If my fans choose to believe something they read about me in a tabloid and stop listening to my music as a result, they were never my fans in the first place and there is no point in trying to please those who just come and go," she said with a shrug and added a tight, polite smile for good measure.

She cast a glance towards Aaron then, not sure if her answer was the right one. He had put his phone down and was watching – specifically Dan – closely.

Eric had given her interview training before her first one all of those months ago. There was an art to it that Beth didn't know if she still had a grasp on, to be honest. It was all about making her mind take its time and formulate the answers. Most times, people just blurted things out – like most people tended to do – and as Eric explained to her, celebrities couldn't afford to be "just" people anymore.

But Aaron wasn't stepping in and stopping her so Beth figured she was doing alright.

"And what about your relationship with Zach Beauford?" Dan asked. "Do you have anything to say about your relationship with him?"

"Besides that he's confirmed to me that I'll never date another actor again?" Beth quipped and she took it as a good sign when Dan smiled. She then shook her head. "I thought I was in love, but it turned out I wasn't. I'm not the first girl who's gone through it and I won't be the last."

Dan took a moment to jot more things down in his notebook and Beth could only hope that _that_ particular line of questioning was done.

"I know you get asked this a lot-" Dan began and Beth braced herself. "But what are some of your current favorite music?" He asked.

Beth couldn't help but exhale a sigh of relief and this time, her smile was of the usual warmth and sincerity that it always was.

…

The bathroom door opened so slowly, Daryl Dixon couldn't help but lift his head from the sink where he was washing his hands to look over curiously to see why.

When the little blonde female slipped in, for one second, Daryl thought that maybe he had been using the women's bathroom this whole time, but then he saw the urinals lining the wall and knew that she was the one to step into the wrong one.

She pressed herself against the wall and then closed the door behind her just as slowly; as if she was sneaking away and hiding from something. Only when she turned her head and saw him at the sinks – saw that she wasn't alone – she froze.

Daryl didn't say anything. He just stared at her and waited for her to say something first; if she would say anything at all. There was no reason for him to say anything. He wasn't the one sneaking into the wrong bathroom.

He normally didn't stay long when he came to Dothan to sell his cattle. He had his usual buyer and he came, dropped off the animals that were already bought and paid for and then he turned right back around to drive back to Georgia. But this trip, it had been raining in blankets so thick, people had been driving with their flashers on and going twenty below the speed limit and Daryl listened to his cattle and their distressed moos for the entire drive.

After shaking hands and saying goodbye to his cattle one more time, Daryl headed towards the nearest restaurant, needing to take some time to eat and smoke and give his hands a break from driving with them white-knuckle tight around the wheel for the drive that took twice as long as it usually did.

He treated himself to the chicken fried steak dinner with mashed potatoes, corn and two biscuits and then a slice of blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. He had two Cokes and one cup of coffee and once every plate and cup was empty and his stomach felt full, he finally felt relaxed once again and he knew he was ready to head home once more. But first, a stop to the bathroom.

"I'm sorry," the blonde blurted out and he admits that he hadn't expected her to speak at all about what she was doing in there. It wasn't really any of his business. It wasn't as if she walked in on him, pissing at one of the urinals. "I'm sorry. I just-" she took a step towards him and then stopped herself. "Can you do me a huge favor?"

He lifted an eyebrow at her, but still didn't speak.

"Pretend you never saw me."

With that, he expected her to leave the way she came in, but instead, she hurried into one of the stalls and closed the door behind her. Daryl frowned, his brow furrowed, and he looked at the closed stall door, having no idea what was going on. He couldn't even begin to make a somewhat educated guess.

But then, it seemed like just a second later, the bathroom door pushed open again and a beady little man with a camera stepped in. And just as the blonde had, this man stopped in his tracks when he saw Daryl standing there. Daryl watched the man as he turned the water in the sink off and then reached over, ripping a paper towel down from the dispenser on the wall.

"Did you see a woman come in here?" The man asked.

Daryl's eyebrow remained raised. "'s the men's room," he responded gruffly.

"Right…" the man said.

Daryl then frowned as he watched the man crouch down, peering underneath the row of stalls, clearly looking for feet, but seeing none. With a sigh, the man stood up once again and muttering to himself, he turned and left the bathroom, the door swinging shut behind him.

He had absolutely no idea what was going on and he knew he didn't really care, but he _was_ curious. How could he not be?

He tossed the paper towel into the trashcan and then turned, leaning back against the sink with his arms crossed over his chest, and he then waited. He saw one foot come down from the toilet seat and then the other and then the door pushed open. The blonde poked her head out and her eyes immediately found Daryl.

"He gone?" She asked.

Daryl just nodded his head once and with a sigh of relief, she stepped from the stall.

"Thank you," she breathed.

"So wha'?" Daryl heard himself ask. "That guy take dirty pictures of girls in bathrooms or somethin'?"

"He would _love_ to get a dirty picture of me," she answered, which wasn't much of an answer at all, but Daryl wasn't going to ask for another.

She looked at Daryl and gave him a smile then and if he wasn't already leaning back against the sink, that smile directed at him would have made him take a step back. It was too warm, too _friendly_ , and Daryl didn't think he had ever had a woman smile at him like that. Like he had done something truly great to earn a smile like that. But then, he told himself that she probably smiled at everyone like that. Why would a smile towards him be any different from a smile she would give to any other stranger in the men's bathroom?

He did his best to ignore how that smile was almost making him want to squirm; as if he was being interrogated for long hours under a single light bulb and the police had just brought in this woman as their secret weapon.

"I'm Beth," she then said, sticking her hand out.

He considered for a moment not to give her his. "Daryl," he said and his hand and brain weren't clearly working together because he reached out and shook her hand.

She looked at him for a moment, as if she was waiting for something, but he just blinked at her and didn't say anything because he didn't know what she wanted. And then, she burst into another smile as her hand slipped from his and Daryl had no idea what was going on or what had made her so happy.

"I am so sorry to ask you of this, Daryl, but I have another favor to ask. A huge favor," she said and Daryl wondered what it was that made him stand there, waiting for her to say what the huge favor was. He just wanted to get back on the road and get back home. He had plenty of things to do back home.

Was it because she was just some cute woman who was hiding from a pervert with a camera? She was smaller than him, just a slip of a female, with blonde hair and big eyes and somewhat pale skin. Not really his type, but to be honest, as his brother just loved to point out to him, he didn't really have a type when it came to women. He didn't like most women. Or men. Or really, all people if they were being technical.

She looked familiar to him, vaguely, but he had no idea why she would. He knew that he had never met her before. Deep down, Daryl knew that he would remember her.

"Those windows," Beth said and pointed to the row of windows up on the wall behind the stall of toilets. "Do you think you can help me climb through one?"

…

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 **This story idea came to me in a dream and the weirdest picture struck me with inspiration, but I'll talk more about the picture when we reach that point in the story. Yesterday, I sat down and mapped out the entire thing and this first chapter flew out of me this morning.**

 **Lately, I have been having the hardest time writing Daryl and Beth. My inspiration has been rock bottom and what I have managed to write for them, I have felt absolutely no passion for and I think some can pick up on it in my updates. I was waiting for a truly exciting idea to strike me and I think I have it with this latest story. For the first time in quite some time, I already can't start work on chapter two.**

 **Thank you so much for reading and please take a moment to comment!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to so much to those who always read and comment and continue to support me.**

 **Beth and Daryl in this story definitely have traits of Emily and Norman in them.**

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…

 **Two.**

Daryl knew that he had heard her, but he didn't really understand the words she said. He stared at her for a moment, still leaning back against the sink with his arms crossed over his chest, and he shook his head at her slightly.

"Wha'?" He managed to ask.

Beth exhaled a soft sigh. "I did something… not good," she said. "And he's not going to be the only photographer after me now. I can't stay here, but I can't just walk out."

Daryl kept blinking at her. "Who are you?" He then asked because most _normal_ people don't have photographers that prevent them from leaving bathrooms.

"You really don't know," she said almost in a whisper and it wasn't a question, but rather a statement and she sounded both relieved and amazed at that. She glance down to the tiled floor and then lifted her eyes once more to his face. "I'm Beth Greene. I sing," she told him.

Daryl still had no idea who she was. He had a feeling that the music she made wasn't necessarily music he went out of his way to listen to. He wondered how famous she was and if she was really that famous, why was she in Dothan, Alabama of all places? She had to be pretty famous though if she had photographers stalking her and forcing her to stand up on toilets and hide in men's bathrooms.

"What'd you do?" Daryl couldn't help but be curious.

Beth nearly cringed at the question. "I had a free morning so I was going to get coffee when the man began taking my picture. I… I _hate_ that I can't even get a cup of coffee without someone seeing me." She exhaled a breath. "So I let my annoyance get the best of me and I flipped him off."

Daryl felt his lips quirk a little at that. For some reason, the little thing standing in front of him, imagining her sticking her middle finger at anyone was funny to him.

"And of course, he got a picture of it and my agent and manager are going to be so angry with me. Especially my agent." She exhaled a deep breath. "My image… I can't just go flipping people off like that, whenever I feel like it."

"Why not?" Daryl asked with a shrug. "If people piss me off, I flip 'em off."

She looked at him and her own lips moved upwards into a tiny smile, but she then shook her head. "My fans… it's not good for me to do that."

Daryl still didn't understand it, but he didn't push it because even if he was the kind of person to, he knew that he still wouldn't understand. This girl standing in front of him, she just wasn't some girl. Apparently, she was _famous_ and it wasn't like he didn't believe her or anything. It was just something too hard to believe. It wasn't as if he had ever met someone famous before – especially after he had just taken a piss.

"And what are you gonna do if I help you through the window?" Daryl asked her.

Beth looked over her shoulder towards the window. "Run?" She answered, unsure.

Daryl had no idea how this had happened. He was ready to go home. He had come to town to do what he had to do. He had dropped his cattle off, he had eaten, the rain had stopped and it was time to get home. He had things to do back home. He didn't have time for this.

But now, there was a girl standing in front of him who looked completely lost and she was like some lamb he felt he would be throwing out to the wolf if he left her here without at least trying to help her. She seemed nice. There was no reason why he shouldn't be trying to help her. He knew people thought he was a dick – and that was because he was – but that didn't mean he could be an outright dick to someone who clearly needed some help.

He had his truck. He could pick her up behind the restaurant and drive her somewhere. If there really was a photographer, Daryl was just some guy. He was nobody and a nobody wouldn't have some famous singer in his truck with him, so why would the photographer even glance his way if Daryl drove right past him?

Without a word, he walked past her and went into the stall she had come out of and as he stood up on the toilet to inspect the window, he heard her cellphone begin to ring. He did his best not to listen in as she answered though the person on the other end was speaking so loudly, it was hard not to listen.

"Congratulations, Beth! You are now officially on drugs and they are making you act erratically!" The voice shouted.

"Is that what they're saying?" Beth asked.

"Of course that's what they're saying! We have been trying to put that rumor to bed and then you decide that giving a photographer your middle finger is the best way to do that! You are _not_ Britney Spears, Beth, and we are _not_ having a Britney Spears meltdown! She's still trying to recover from that!"

Beth turned once Daryl was able to get the lock undone and he slid the window open. He stretched himself up on his toes so he could look out the window and see what was on the other side. He didn't feel like dropping her into an open dumpster.

"Eric, I'm not going to shave my head," she said and her voice sounded so quiet and small in that moment and Daryl had just met her and he knew that that wasn't right.

"Where are you? Because you can guarantee that more photographers are on the way, hoping to snap more pictures of you, acting _erratically_."

"Eric," Beth began to say and then sighed softly. "Is Aaron there?"

A much calmer voice spoke up. "I'm here, Beth. You're on speaker."

Daryl could feel her eyes watching him as he pressed his hands down on the sill and then easily hoisted himself up, pulling himself up. It wasn't that much of a drop down to the ground, but he had already figured that he didn't need to hoist Beth through the window and drop her and have her hurt herself. This was probably going to be the best way to get her out of that bathroom.

Again, he wondered what the hell he was doing.

Daryl sat up on the sill and watched her, waiting, and Beth stepped towards him, the phone still pressed to her ear.

"Can I go to my parents' house?" She asked.

And Daryl looked away, not wanting to look at her, not wanting her to see him frown. She had to ask permission to go see her own parents?

"I'm sorry, Beth," the calmer of the two men, Aaron, answered. "They'll look for you there. Where are you? We'll send a car to pick you up. The story is spreading fast."

Beth looked up to Daryl, sitting on the window's edge, and her eyes seemed somehow, to him, even bigger now. And sad. He swallowed at the sight of them and again, he looked away so he didn't have to see them. He just met this girl. All he had to do was help her get through this window and that would be that. Her being sad wasn't any of his business or concern. He just wanted to get home.

"I… I'm sorry for this whole mess. I really am."

"Where are you?" Eric asked again.

Beth didn't answer. Daryl slowly turned his head towards hers and immediately, his eyes met hers. Instead, Beth ended the call and then hit a button on the side before sliding the phone back into the bag slung across her chest. She exhaled a breath and then stepped into the stall, looking up at Daryl.

"You know," she spoke, surprising him a little. For some reason, he expected her to be quiet with how sad her eyes were still looking right now. "I woke up in a fantastic mood. I had a good show last night, I took a bubble bath at the hotel, I actually got to sleep in this morning. All I wanted was a stupid cup of coffee."

Daryl shifted a little. "Here. Put your foot there," he said, pointing to the top of the toilet with the pipes coming out of the wall.

Beth followed his instruction and standing up on the toilet seat, she then put her foot on the pipe and Daryl took hold of her hands, easily pulling her up onto the sill so they were sitting side by side.

"Was the coffee good at least?" He heard himself asking her.

"I didn't even get to get it. I flipped the photographer off and then hurried into this restaurant because it was the first one I passed," Beth said with an ending sigh. "Technically, they're not even supposed to follow me in here. It's private property."

Daryl swung one leg out the window and then the other. He pushed himself off and dropped down to the ground below. The rain had stopped, but the grey clouds were still sticking around, hanging low in the sky, and Daryl wanted to get back onto the road before the next storm hit. He would get Beth on the ground and then let one of those guys get a car to her. He had told himself that he would get her out of the bathroom and that was what he was doing. Past that, it wasn't his concern.

Beth's legs appeared out of the window.

"Al'righ'," Daryl said up to her. "I gotcha. You can drop down."

He expected her to hesitate. After all, he was just some guy she met in the john. She had absolutely no reason to trust him.

But Beth didn't seem to hesitate at all. She pushed herself off the ledge, into the arms he had held up towards her. She was a light thing; his newborn calves easily outweighing her. Once her feet were securely on the ground, his hands were still on her hips and her hands were still on his biceps and she practically _beamed_ at him.

"Are you my guardian angel?" She asked him and Daryl had no idea if she was kidding or not, but either way, he snorted at the question.

"No Dixon's ever been called an angel before," he said and finally, his hands left her.

Beth looked up to him. "Dixon," she said his last name softly. "Daryl Dixon," she then stated with a smile. "Are you sure you're not someone famous, too? It's good name."

Daryl snorted again and Beth laughed.

"Well, Daryl Dixon, I can't even begin to thank you enough for all of your help."

He shrugged, his hands going into the pockets of his jeans, as if it wasn't a big deal.

"How you know I ain't gonna go sell your story to the tabloids or somethin'?" He asked her. "Tell 'em you were all strung out."

Beth kept smiling as she shook her head. "You won't. You don't even know who I am." And the way she said that, it sounded as if it was the best thing to happen to her. And from the sounds of how her morning had gone so far, maybe it was.

Daryl could easily leave now. He had done what he said he would do and that was getting her our out of the restaurant bathroom with no one seeing her. She wasn't his responsibility anymore. Not that she ever had been. He could leave now and she could call someone to come pick her up and that was that.

So why the hell wasn't he leaving?

He didn't need this, he reminded himself, but it seemed as if he was ignoring himself.

"Why does everyone think you're takin' drugs?" Daryl couldn't help but ask.

Because of his brother and the life he used to live, Daryl was more than used to being around plenty of junkies. The dirty, greasy-haired kind with missing teeth and pot marks on their faces. Beth looked about as far away from that as a person could be. He knew what even those who used the more "glamorous" drugs looked like, but again, Beth didn't look like a coke-head, either.

She looked as innocent as apple-pie, for fuck's sake.

Whoever was spreading rumors about her didn't know the first thing about drugs.

"My ex," Beth answered with a shrug and leaned against the wall behind her. "He didn't like that _I_ was the one to do the breaking up, so this is his way of getting back at me for it. I've been doing my best to ignore it, but…" she trailed off with another shrug. She looked at him for a moment. "What do you do, Daryl?" She asked him. "Do you live here in Dothan?"

The question caught him off guard and he stood there for a moment, staring at her, wanting to ask her why she cared.

He still didn't understand what he was still doing there.

His silence stretched on for too long and Beth's cheeks noticeably turned pinker.

"I'm sorry." She shook her head. "I didn't mean to pry." She seemed embarrassed.

"Nah," Daryl shook his own head and cleared his throat. "I got a little cattle ranch in Georgia. Just a lil' bit over the border."

His answer, for some reason, made her smile.

"I'm from Georgia, too. Southeast," she said. "Grew up on a cotton farm. It's been in my family since they came over from Ireland. My brother runs it now after my daddy retired last year. We had a few cows, too. Dairy cows. Not anymore though."

"I raise Highland cattle," Daryl told her for some reason. Beth looked at him for a moment and he knew she was trying to remember if she knew what those were. Most people didn't. "They're the long-haired ones with the horns," he offered.

"Oh my gosh, I know those," Beth beamed and he nearly smiled, too. "They are absolutely adorable. I've always loved the look of them."

"Their meat goes for a good price," Daryl said.

"How many heads do you have?" She asked.

"I did have forty heads plus two bulls, but I jus' sold off ten of 'em here in town."

"It sounds wonderful," she smiled.

She kept talking to him and Daryl found himself not minding all that much even though talking and conversations were not his favorite things in the world. He still didn't know why she cared though. Why wasn't she calling someone to come and pick her up? Did she really like standing behind some restaurant with him, in some dirty alley? She didn't even know him. He may not have known who she was, but he was still a man and still a stranger and women had to be careful with things like that. Especially women as pretty as this one.

Daryl shrugged. "Jus' a lil' place. What about you? You like what you do?"

"I love being on stage. I love being up there, playing my songs and having people sing along." She sighed and shrugged. "I just don't think I love everything else."

"What are you talkin' 'bout?" Daryl asked. "Climbing out of bathroom windows and jumpin' into arms of strangers? What's not to love?" He smirked a little.

Beth smiled and then leaned her head against the wall and looked up towards the sky. "I sound so selfish. Do you know how many people in this world would love to do what I do? I'm blessed, I know I am." She looked to him again. "But it's just not everything I thought it would be."

Daryl didn't say anything and he didn't think she was expecting him to. He raised cattle. He didn't know too much about anything else.

He pulled his hands from his jean pockets, bringing his truck keys out with him. "I…" he started to say, but he couldn't figure out how to finish that.

Beth's eyes widened and she pushed herself from the wall. "I am so sorry. Here I am, keeping you, when you probably have a thousand more important things to do."

"Yeah…" Daryl said, fidgeting with his keys. At the moment, he found he wasn't really able to think of what he should be doing instead. He looked at her for a moment. "You gonna be okay?" He asked.

She gave him a smile and a nod. "Now that I'm out of there, thanks to you, I'm going to call my manager back. He'll get me picked up."

Daryl gave a nod. "If you're sure you got a way out of here…"

His eyes widened and he felt his body freeze when Beth stepped forward and standing on her toes, her arms wrapped around his shoulders in a hug.

"It was very nice to meet you, Daryl Dixon," she said.

Daryl felt his hand lifting to touch her back, but she was already pulling back before he could. She looked up at him with that same friendly smile of hers.

"You too, Beth Greene," he said.

After another moment, he managed to turn himself away and he finally started walking away, heading towards the restaurant's lot where his truck was parked.

He told himself not to look back and he was amazed – and a little relieved – when he seemed to finally listen to himself. He got all the way to his truck without looking back to Beth once. And when he turned the key in the ignition and drove from the parking lot, he still didn't look back towards the alley. As he passed the front of the restaurant, he saw the guy with the camera, looking up and down the street.

Daryl told himself that Beth would be fine.

And then he asked himself why he cared either way if she was or not.

…

Beth sat on the bench seat in the bus with her knees drawn up to her chest, watching the passing scenery as they made the drive upstate to Montgomery for the show she had later that night. She didn't pay attention to anything else. Not to Eric across from her, making call after call on his cell – she didn't even know who he was talking to or what he was talking about; she wasn't listening – and not to Aaron, who sat beside her, typing something on his phone. She knew they were both doing damage control because she had had a slip and for a moment, she was an actual human being who reacted to things; who got angry and flipped a person off without thinking about pictures or tabloids or what people would think.

She stretched her legs out and then slowly, she stood up.

Aaron stopped typing and looked up at her. "You okay?" He asked. At least he didn't seem as angry as Eric did. He actually seemed pretty calm about the whole thing.

"I'm going to call my mom," Beth said, holding up her cell phone just in case he didn't believe her, and she then headed towards the back of the bus where her bedroom was.

Closing the door behind her, she then all but collapsed onto the bed. She had a quilt with her that her grandmother had made when she was born and she took it with her everywhere. It was folded neatly on the foot of the bed and Beth took it now, lying down, curling into a ball and burying herself beneath the quilt. If she closed her eyes and concentrated, she could still smell home clinging to it.

Sunshine and fresh cut grass and her mom's blueberry pie baking in the oven.

Beth found herself repeating to herself more and more that she loved what she was doing. She was on tour. She had a successful album. She had fans who loved her songs. What more could she want from this life?

 _The chance to go home_. The chance to get a cup of coffee without someone taking her picture and asking if she was really popping pills. The chance to keep talking with a handsome man she had met without having to hide with him in an alley somewhere, keeping from eyes that would be curious and would spread another falsity about her. _Beth Greene caught having sex with stranger in alleyway_. She could see it now and things would be worse than they already were just from one finger in the air.

She shivered as if she was cold and she curled herself together tighter. Her eyes were still on the window, watching Alabama fly by. The tour was slowly taking her west, further and further away from Georgia. Maybe for her next tour, they could just make it a Southern tour. Would Eric and the label agree to that?

Beth rolled on her back, making sure her feet were still warmly tucked beneath the quilt – she hated when her feet were exposed in bed – and she brought her phone up. Instead of calling her mom though – she would in a few minutes – she opened a web page up and after a moment of hesitating, she typed 'Daryl Dixon' and 'highland cattle' into the search bar. She didn't know what she was looking for or why she was even looking in the first place.

Maybe there would be a phone number.

Maybe he wouldn't mind if she just called, hoping to talk again.

It had been so long since she had met someone who honestly didn't know who she was and she had found it refreshing and intoxicating. In that alley with Daryl Dixon, she actually felt her and had honestly almost forgotten what that felt like. When she was on break, and she was at home on the farm with her family, she could be Beth again. She could throw her hair up into a ponytail and wear sweatpants and no makeup and no would blinked an eye. When her parents or Maggie or Shawn asked her a question, she didn't have to think about a rehearsed response to give them.

She had just met him, but why did Beth feel like she could do that around Daryl, too?

After some searching, she found him on a Highland Cattle Association page. He was listed in some directory. His name and his phone number. Beth stared at it. No, she couldn't call him. What if he had a wife or a girlfriend? What if he was too busy to talk to some girl who just wanted to feel normal like he made her feel?

Beth quickly closed the page and then rolled onto her side again. She went into her contacts and dialed her parents and told herself that she was being ridiculous. She was riding on a tour bus, for goodness sake! This was the dream. What person in their right mind would just walk away from all of this?

…

* * *

 **Thank you very much for reading and please take a moment to review!**


	3. Chapter 3

…

 **Three.**

Well, to be honest, he found that he didn't hate her music in the least.

Beth Greene had two albums released and once he got back to town, he went to the music store and walked up the aisles until he found the "G" cds. He was just curious. She must have been pretty good – and popular – if she had to climb out of bathroom windows to escape people who wanted to take her picture. And he had never met anyone famous before. Who could blame him for being curious?

There was a teenage girl working at the counter and she scanned the cds for him and he handed over a twenty.

"You are going to love her," she said, seeing nothing wrong with him, a grown man with a little grey in the hair on his chin, buying music that very well was probably for people this girl's age.

"Yeah?" Daryl took his change.

"It's just her and a guitar and her voice is so awesome," the girl gushed. "She just did a show in Atlanta a few weeks ago and I got to go see her."

Daryl didn't know what to say after that. He took the bag and grunted his thanks to the girl and headed back out to his truck. The truck was a newer model – a heavy duty pickup truck that could manage pulling around his cattle trailers – and unlike the old pile of junk he had had for years before trading it in, this truck had a cd player and so, sitting in the parking lot, he managed to get off the pain-in-the-ass plastic wrapping from around the plastic case and slid the cd into the player.

And as the first song began to play, Daryl looked down at the picture on the cover. A picture of her taken at what was probably one of her shows, she standing on stage, singing into a microphone with a smile on her face as she strummed at an acoustic guitar strapped to her.

Daryl found himself staring at her. He couldn't believe that he had just met this girl this morning. Some famous singer had literally slipped into his arms this morning.

Shit like this didn't happen. It wasn't supposed to happen. Who the hell was he? In the grander scheme of things, he was pretty much a nobody. He had family and friends, but he was just a guy who lived in the middle of nowhere and who preferred the company of his cattle to that of pretty much anyone else.

He was quiet and he lived a quiet life.

And right now, he was listening to a girl he had met – randomly and quickly – sing on a cd about birthday cake and New York and this morning, looking back on it now a few hours later, it almost didn't seem real to him.

Daryl drove from town and headed down the road that would take him back home.

Open fields and a blue sky that stretched as far as the eye could reach, dotted with the occasional clumping of trees or woods and Daryl couldn't imagine living anywhere else in the world. Whenever he was away from here, he was always counting down in his head to how soon he could be able to get back.

Like he told Beth, his ranch was just a little one. Just a little over a two thousand acres; a little bit over three miles of land that was all his. There was a little bit of woods, too, that his cattle liked to go into, shading themselves among the trees or bathing themselves in the little river that flowed through the foliage. If he ever got any more heads, he would have to buy more, but for now, with his little herd, it was a good size. Something manageable.

As he drove up the dirt path that led to his house and the barns, he could see the herd out, lazing about in the grass, some sleeping or eating and he saw his man in charge when he was gone, sitting on his horse, watching over them, but upon seeing the truck, he turned and began a slow trot back to meet Daryl.

Daryl decided that he would leave his Beth cds in his truck. And he decided that he did like her music. It wasn't his usual taste, but there was something about her voice. He remembered her standing in front of him, leaning against the brick wall behind her with a soft smile on her face as she looked at him. She didn't even know him and she had already showed an immense amount of trust towards him.

It made him wonder how many people were in her life who she _couldn't_ trust.

Getting out of the truck, he was greeted by a medium-sized, short-coated dog with hair so black, it looked almost blue in a certain light. When Daryl had gotten his land and his cattle, he knew he would have to have help to keep everything in line and after doing some research, and asking the other cattlemen part of the association for their advice, Daryl had gotten himself an Australian Cattle Dog. And thank God for Blue. Blue might have just been a little thing compared to other herding dogs, but he was a scrapper and the cattle always seemed to fall in line with Blue running around them, making sure they followed his directions.

Blue stood on his hind legs now, his front paws on Daryl's hip and his tail wagging a mile a minute. Daryl smiled as he rubbed the dog behind his triangle-shaped ears and then looked as the horse neared and then came to a stop.

"How'd it go?" Oscar asked.

"Good," Daryl gave a nod.

No way would he tell _anyone_ about what happened to him this morning. There would be way too many questions and honestly, Daryl knew that it was something he wanted to keep to himself. Not because of the questions, but because it still felt so unbelievable and yet, it felt _good_. He kept imagining standing with Beth Greene in the alley and he didn't know her except what he could probably find on Google, but it was still amazing to him just how comfortable he had felt talking with her.

"Everythin' good here?" Daryl asked him.

"Yep. Bunch of lazy sacks today," Oscar said and Daryl smiled a little at that. "Want me to help you herd them up?" He asked.

"Yeah. Lemme go get saddled up and then once we get 'em rounded up, you can head on home for the night," Daryl said.

"Thanks, boss," Oscar grinned.

After Daryl had scrimped and saved and was finally able to buy this land and a small herd of cattle to start out with, he also hired Oscar, knowing that he would need the help. There was a double-wide trailer on the land that Oscar now lived in with his wife and their twin eight-year-old boys and Daryl didn't know enough words to say how grateful he was for the man. He didn't know how long Oscar would want to keep his family in a trailer, but Oscar had told him more than once that he was thankful to have a job and a roof over his and his family's heads.

Daryl knew that Oscar had run into some trouble a few years back and Daryl knew it was hard to clean a life up once that happened, but Oscar was good with both horses and cattle and Daryl wouldn't be able to run this place without his help.

Between the two of them and Blue's help, they were able to herd the cattle fairly easily into the fenced in areas near the barns where they would stay until tomorrow morning. Sometimes, Daryl would stay out with them at night, letting them roam the land, but for tonight, he wanted them all in one spot.

"Want to come over for dinner?" Oscar asked as they locked the gates and then led the horses to their stalls in the barn. "Pru's making this sort of hamburger casserole thing she makes and there's always too much of it."

"Nah, I'm arigh'," Daryl shook his head, brushing his horse down. "Ate big in Dothan earlier and I'm still full from that. But have her bring me some leftovers tomorrow."

"You got it," Oscar grinned. "Have a good night, boss."

"You, too."

Oscar left the barn, heading in the direction of his family's trailer, and with Blue following him, Daryl headed towards his own.

The house was just a little farmhouse. Daryl had never needed that much in his life and when he bought this land, the house that sat on it was the least of his worries. He had done a little bit of work on it – just to make sure it wasn't falling down around him – and now, it was the nicest place he had ever lived in. There wasn't much to it. A living room, kitchen, a small dining room and a bathroom under the stairs. And upstairs, there were two little bedrooms and another bathroom.

Inside, Blue first went to his water bowl in the kitchen, taking greedy laps before going to his pillow on the floor in the living room and collapsing heavily, exhausted like anyone at the end of a long day of work.

Daryl headed up the stairs to shower off and came back down a little bit later in a tee-shirt and sweatpants. He grabbed a can of beer from the refrigerator and then went to drop down on the couch in the living room. He had an old laptop that he had bought at a pawn shop a couple of years ago because the association had wanted an email address and Daryl hadn't had one so he went to go get himself one.

Now, he opened it up and went to Google. Daryl admitted that he wasn't too sure what he was doing, but that didn't mean he stopped from typing Beth Greene into the search bar. Within seconds, he had thousands upon thousands of hits.

And sure enough, the first few to pop up where the picture of Beth giving the middle finder to a photographer. He clicked on one of the stories concerning her drug use and he frowned as his eyes scanned over it. Daryl didn't watch movies – not new ones anyway – and if a show wasn't on ID or the National Geographic Channel, he admitted that he wouldn't know if a person was an actor or not – hence his ignorance when it came to knowing who Beth was when he first saw her – so he had no idea who this Zach Beauford guy was, but apparently he was an actor and Daryl was pretty sure that he hated the guy at first sight.

He and Beth met at some award show where they presented an award together and then proceeded to date for seven months. Beth ended the relationship – abruptly from what Daryl could gather – and Zach came out and started saying that Beth was taking all sorts of pills and she kept the bottles in her purse and took them with her everywhere and for some reason, people were entertaining the idiot.

Daryl clicked out of the news and went to the images page instead and images of Beth flooded the page. He felt himself swallowing as his mouth went dry. Damn, she was really beautiful and just looking at the stills of her smiling and at concerts and on red carpets attending events, he began to wonder if this morning really did happen or if it was just some long drawn-out fantasy. Maybe he had seen Beth's picture on a magazine cover or something and his imagination took off.

He went back to the web and clicked on her Wikipedia page. She was from Georgia, like she said – not that Daryl thought she would lie about something like that – and she was twenty-seven years old. That kind of made him wince because he definitely wasn't twenty-seven.

He then went to her main webpage, which showed her schedule of tour dates. She was in Montgomery tonight and tomorrow, she would be in Mississippi and then slowly, she was making her way around the states, heading further away from Georgia. _Not_ that that mattered, Daryl reminded himself. It didn't matter where she was because the odds of seeing her again, he had a better shot at winning the lottery and he didn't even buy tickets to play.

Daryl closed the laptop and leaned forward, sliding it onto the coffee table before grabbing the remote control and sinking back into the couch. With a chug of beer, he turned on the television and watched some crime show and he was asleep by seven.

…

Beth had taken the stage at eight and when she stepped off again at ten to cheers and people chanting for "more, more, more!", she took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment. She was exhausted – more than how she usually was when finished with a show for some reason. No. Not for some reason. She knew exactly why.

Eric and Aaron had had her doing damage control all afternoon and she was drained. Her throat hurt from singing the show and she needed Jell-O and now, her cheeks hurt from smiling so much. When she had gotten to the club in Montgomery, Eric had already called some of the press and he had her smiling for so many pictures, Beth had lost count and the flashing had done her eyesight no favors.

"We just have to show them that you're coherent and _sober_ ," Eric had explained.

Beth had hated every second of it no matter how warm and friendly her smile had seemed and how polite and a good old-fashioned polite Southern girl she had been to the press shouting questions at her. She just honestly wanted to run away from it all and she found herself hating Eric a little for making her do all of this.

She knew she wasn't on drugs. Those close to her knew she wasn't. Those were the people who mattered. Not these paparazzi shouting questions out at her as they snapped her pictures. But because Zach was – technically – a bigger celebrity than her and he had played the part of broken-hearted wronged party to the press, they were eating his stories up and she found herself on the defensive and Beth didn't know how to get herself on the other side.

She just wanted to write songs and play her guitar.

"Good show," Aaron said to her with a smile, but tonight, Beth had no response.

She just wanted to go home. Not back to the hotel, but _home_. She wanted to hug her mom and daddy and go to sleep in her own bed and wake up to her mom making French toast downstairs in the kitchen and then take her horse, Nelly, out for a ride.

Going home wasn't an option though and she already knew that even if Eric hadn't already told her that. If she was just to disappear, her parents' farm would be one of the first places everyone would look for her and she couldn't have that madness descend upon her parents like that. They didn't ask for the attention like she had when she signed that contract.

In her dressing room, Beth set her guitar down and went into the bathroom. When she flushed the toilet, she went to the sink to wash her hands and she splashed cold water on her face before lifting her head and looking at her reflection.

This was what she wanted. She had wanted to write her songs and sing them on stage for audiences and this had been her dream since she was a little girl, singing her solos in the choir during church services on Sunday mornings. This was what she had been born to do. This was what she _wanted_ to do. …wasn't it?

"Beth?" Aaron knocked gently on the door. "You okay?"

Beth swallowed. "Yes," she responded and she wondered if he believed her. Her voice didn't even sound like her own.

When she opened the door, Aaron was standing there and his eyes were dark with concern as he roamed them over her face. She tried to give him a smile, but she had already smiled so much this evening and she just didn't feel like it anymore.

"Am I allowed to take an Aspirin?" She asked and she didn't mean to be a bitch – not to Aaron, of all people – but she couldn't help it. Right now, she felt like being a bitch to everyone. If her daddy came through the door right now, she'd snap at him, too.

"Beth," Aaron began and then sighed softly as he went to go take out a bottle of Aspirin from his bag. "I know Eric's being a little crazy right now, but he's doing it for you." He tapped two white tablets into the palm of her hand. "We both have seen just rumors destroy a person's career and we don't want that to happen to you."

"It's been a year, Aaron. Just a year and I'm exhausted," Beth said. She popped the pills into her mouth and downed them with a guzzle of water from her bottle.

"Where would you go?" Aaron asked even though she hadn't said a word about leaving. But it was sort of obvious, wasn't it?

She wondered how obvious it was that she just wanted to leave. If Aaron could see it without her saying a word, could Eric? Could the press? Could her family when they saw her pictures or spoke with her on the phone?

And Aaron didn't ask the question to be cruel. He was asking because it had to be asked. If she left, where would she go? Not to her parents. Not to LA or New York. She'd be too easily recognized there and everyone would accuse her of running away because she had something to hide. Maybe the Arctic Circle of Canada would be safe or some abandoned mining town in Montana. Or maybe…

Or maybe a highland cattle ranch in Georgia.

Beth thought of Daryl then and not for the first time that evening. For some reason, she had gotten the idea in her head when she had been up on stage that Daryl Dixon would show up to the club in Montgomery that night to see her show and surprise her. She knew it was completely insane. She knew she watched too many romantic movies and read too many romance novels. But she hadn't been able to shake the possible image from her mind.

She had found his number on the Highland Cattle Association webpage and they had also posted the address of his ranch. What would he do if she just showed up? No one would find her there, that was for sure. But how selfish would that be of her? To just show up on Daryl's doorstep and expect him to hide her for a while from the world? She didn't even know him and he didn't know her. There was absolutely no reason that Beth would put such an imposition upon a complete stranger.

Maybe she could just fly up to Michigan and stay with her sister and brother-in-law for a while. They would have no problem hiding her and they would love to have her. Every time she spoke with Maggie, she told Beth at least twice during the conversation that she needed to come visit her and Glenn more even though Beth hadn't had much downtime in the past year and when she had had a couple of precious days to relax and do nothing, she always went back home to the farm.

But would tracking down where Maggie lived be too easy for everyone who would want to find her? The answer was a simple one. Yes. The paparazzi had taken pictures of Maggie before and knew her name and what she looked like. Finding Maggie Greene-Rhee would be as easy as finding a "friend" who could corroborate Zach's stories of her drug use.

The more she thought about it, the more that going to Daryl's ranch was the best option for her. And that was completely insane and completely selfish and she had to get that idea of her head right this instant.

She couldn't get away. If she ran away, it would be even worse for her and the fires Eric and Aaron would have to put out because of her would be even greater.

Feeling tears of frustration and exhaustion start to sting her eyes, Beth blinked quickly in a way of warding them off and she turned, collapsing onto the couch.

Aaron sat down on the coffee table across from her. "I know you don't want to do this, but maybe if you fed them something about Zach-"

"No," Beth swiftly cut him off just as she had any other time it was suggested. "That is a low level I am _not_ going to stoop to. Just because he wants to sling mud doesn't mean I have to sling it back. I am not going to let all of this change me that much where I would even consider doing something like that."

Aaron was quiet after that for a moment because her answer hadn't changed and she hoped that he knew that it wouldn't.

"Where would you go?" He asked her again. "If I got you a car right now and helped you sneak out of here, where would you go?"

Beth closed her eyes and held her water bottle to her forehead. It wasn't supposed to be like this. All of those dreams she had had of living this exact kind of life, she had never imagined it be ever like this. Why would she have ever imagined this?

She thought of long-haired cattle and land that stretched beneath the blue Georgia sky and of a man with dark hair in need of a cut and blue eyes shy to meet her own.

"I don't know," Beth whispered.

…

* * *

 **I'm already excited for the next chapter. Thank you so much for reading and please take a moment to leave a review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**You guys are awesome as always. Thank you!**

* * *

…

 **Four.**

Daryl woke up at dawn as he always did and after lying there for a moment, allowing his brain to wake itself up, he pulled himself from bed and could smell coffee brewing downstairs. That meant that Merle had probably come in sometime during the night. He was the only other one with a key to the house and when Daryl had initially given it, he admitted that he had been a bit nervous, expecting to come inside one day and find everything he owned gone and to the pawn shop already.

The problem with Merle was not only did he sell drugs, but he used them, too, and Daryl had tried to help get him clean over the years, but the thing with trying to get a person clean was it only worked if they _wanted_ to get clean. Merle always had to make the decision for himself. And sometimes, he did stick to a thirty-day program and clean himself out and Daryl went to NA meetings with him, but then, almost like clockwork, Merle would run into an old "friend" and he would start using again.

But Merle Dixon had his own form of a code and he never stole from his little brother. He stole from other people, but never from Daryl and when he used the key to his house, it was usually just because Merle needed a couch to crash on.

Daryl put on his jeans and one of his flannel shirts and after tugging on socks, he pulled on his boots, lacing them up tight, and headed into the bathroom to use the toilet and to brush his teeth. Hearing medals as he stood at the sink, he turned and saw that Blue had come upstairs, now sitting in the doorway of the bathroom, wagging his tail at Daryl. He then heard a female voice and frowned, wondering if Merle had brought a woman over and why the hell hadn't Daryl heard them? Merle wasn't exactly a quiet kind when it came to that sort of thing.

Coming down the stairs, Blue on his heels, he went into the kitchen and sure enough, his older brother was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee clasped between both hands, and a woman was standing at the stove, scrambling eggs.

Daryl frowned. "Merle, I told you. Pru ain't here to be our maid so stop goin' and pullin' her out of her house jus' to cook for you."

Pru, Oscar's wife, turned her head upon hearing Daryl come into the kitchen. "Stop. It's just eggs and I'd rather cook him eggs than have him burn down your house when he tries it himself."

Merle grinned at Daryl at that, but Daryl kept frowning.

"Well…" Daryl said, going to the cabinet to get him a cup before pouring himself some coffee from the freshly brewed pot on the counter. "At least call Oscar and the boys over so they can eat breakfast, too."

He filled Blue's bowl with kibble since Merle hadn't done it yet and then turned on the little radio he had set up on the windowsill over the sink before sitting down at the table, unfolding the morning paper he had delivered to his house every day and which Merle had obviously gotten from the doorstep for him.

"You doin' okay?" Daryl asked, keeping his eyes down on the headlines of the front page though he admitted his eyes really weren't reading any of them.

"Good as always, baby brother," Merle grinned.

Pru came and sat down a plate heaping with scrambled eggs and two empty plates and forks. "You boys want toast?" She asked.

"Stop, Pru. Jesus," Daryl frowned up at her as she got to her feet. "Call the others and have 'em come over. I'll make the toast."

No matter how many times Pru tried, Daryl was damn uncomfortable with _anyone_ wanting to wait on him unless he was in a restaurant and that was a waitress's job.

Pru rolled her eyes, but didn't argue as she went over to the old-fashioned rotary phone on the wall that was as old as this house was. Merle was shoveling eggs into his mouth and Daryl grabbed the loaf of bread to pop slices into the toaster.

Where Oscar was a large – almost formidable – man, a man who had served time in prison for attempted robbery, Pru was a little thing who's dad was a preacher in a church. As she explained to Daryl once he had found out, opposites attracted and she was a woman who had been raised in the church and she was taught to forgive and let those who sought it to have forgiveness and redemption.

Daryl wondered what Pru's thoughts on Merle were since everyone knew that the man was strung out more times than not.

Merle had told her once that she was pretty for a colored gal and Pru had promptly smacked him on the back of the head for that comment.

 _"…_ _and now on the entertainment side of things,"_ the announcer on the radio spoke. _"Things are in a bit of chaos this morning in the world of music since it was discovered that singer, Beth Greene, has disappeared."_

Daryl's head whipped towards the radio.

 _"_ _That's right. Disappeared."_

Daryl didn't mean to, but he practically pushed Pru aside as she spoke to Oscar on the phone so he could turn up the radio.

 _"…_ _had a show last night in Montgomery and then a late-night CD signing. After the signing, that is when she had seemed to disappear into thin air. Reports have surfaced of her slipping out the back window of the music store though these are still unconfirmed at the moment. Her manager, Aaron Meeks, is not saying whether he knows where she is or not. All his statement says is that she is safe, she loves her fans and she will perform the shows that she will miss upon her return. But no word on when she will return. Where in the world is Beth Greene and why did she disappear?"_

"Beth Greene fan?" Pru asked with a teasing smile.

"Hey! My toast!" Merle exclaimed through a mouthful of eggs.

Daryl popped up the pieces of charred black bread from the toaster and opened the window above the sink to air out the room. But he didn't even feel himself doing any of it. He just relied on his brain to make the automatic movements.

Disappeared? What in the hell did that even mean?

Had someone taken her? The report hadn't mentioned anything about a kidnapping, but would they tell the public something like that? Were the police involved? If she was taken by someone, they couldn't keep it a secret. They had to tell the public so others could help search for her.

Daryl's mind was racing and he was tempted to go back to his laptop and go on Google to read more about it. But he knew he couldn't because Merle and Pru were looking at him, obviously wondering what the hell he was doing. And he had to wonder that himself. He had met her for just a few minutes – Christ, had that just been yesterday? – and then he had left to get back home and she had gone back to her life. Or at least, he had thought she had. But again, he wondered why he cared?

He was confused as hell and his head hurt and it wasn't even six o'clock in the damn morning yet.

With a shake of his head, Daryl headed towards the back door. "'m goin' to check on the cattle," he said.

"You didn't eat anything," Pru said with a frown.

Without a word, Daryl swiped one of the blackened pieces of toast from off the counter and headed outside, Blue running out with him. He headed towards the fences and unlocked the gates, pushing them open, and Blue ran in, running around the cattle, barking, getting them out. They would roam as they always did for the day, walking themselves around the land, eating grass and lying in the shade and Daryl would be with them all day, keeping watch.

The heads he had just sold the day before, it had given him enough money to pay Oscar his pay, deal with the bills of the ranch and have a little extra leftover for food and other essentials. It wasn't an easy life. There was never a day off and Daryl had to be smart with the money – never knowing what would happen from month to month that might make money tight or even nonexistent. And anything could happen with the cattle. They could get sick, some wild animal could get himself through the fence that surrounded the acres of land, some act of God could decide to take them all out…

Daryl loved what he did, though, and he loved his cattle. Loved them so much, sometimes, it was actually damn hard to sell them to the meat buyers, but like he told Beth, their meat was good and went for a good price. There were some restaurants who only wanted to use Highland Cattle beef for their dishes and they were willing to pay for the product.

Daryl just wished he didn't need money sometimes. Sometimes, he wished it was just possible to have his land and his cattle and not need anything from anyone.

"Morning, boss!" Oscar called out as he stepped from his trailer. "I'm going to eat breakfast and then I'll come and start the day!"

"Take your time!" Daryl called back, already turning away, watching as the last of the cattle roamed out, taking their time in following the rest of the herd.

Oscar and Pru's eight-year-old twins, Jeremiah and Joseph, ran out of the trailer past their dad and raced one another towards the house. Blue took off after them, barking, wanting to be in the race, too.

The sky was a light cotton candy pink that morning as the sun rose slowly out in the east and there was a gentle – almost tickling – breeze blowing in from that direction as well. Daryl could tell that it was going to be a pretty nice early fall day. Maybe he'd sleep out with the cattle tonight. He hadn't done that for a few weeks. He actually preferred to sleep out with them in the winter; making sure they got through the night alright without some starving animal from the woods coming and making a feast out of one of them.

He remembered the piece of black toast still in his hand and took a crunching bite and he couldn't stop himself from wondering where Beth was and if she was alright. And then, he wondered why the hell he cared. She had just been some girl he had helped out of the bathroom window. Just a girl who he would never see again.

"Daryl!" Pru stood at the back door and called out to him. "Phone call!"

Daryl finished his toast as he headed back to the house. He figured it was Rick Grimes, the Sheriff, calling since it was still too damn early for most people. He had called the man a couple of days ago, telling him that a couple kids were shooting off firecrackers on the other side of his fence, trying to scare his cattle, and he hadn't been able to run off after them in time before they drove off. Hopefully, Rick had already found the kids and had them strung up by their ankles in the center of town.

When he came into the kitchen, Pru had made more scrambled eggs and toast – not burned – and everyone was sitting at the table, eating breakfast before the school bus came to pick up the boys, Oscar headed out to saddle his horse and go and check the fences like he did every other morning, Pru went to her job in town where she was a secretary for a contractor's office and Merle probably passed out on the couch.

Daryl picked up the receiver that was resting on top of the phone. "'ello?" He answered.

There was a slight pause. "Hello." The voice was quiet and unsure.

He recognized the voice immediately and his entire body went stiff. His initial reaction was to hang up because he was clearly imagining things. Why the hell would _she_ be calling _him_? And at the moment, he was just going to ignore how relieved he felt to know that she was obviously safe and hadn't been kidnapped.

"This is Beth," she then said as if he didn't have a clue. "We met yesterday-"

"How'd you get this number?" Daryl cut in and he almost cringed because he sounded so damn gruff right then and that was actually the last thing he wanted to be. Not with her, and that was another thing he didn't want to think about. He was gruff with damn near everyone - which he usually wanted to be. Why should this girl who he didn't even know want himself to treat her a little differently?

"I'm sorry. Your number was on the website for the Highland Cattle Association… I'm sorry," she then said again and her words were rush and she was sounding upset and he turned his back on the others at the table so they couldn't see him close his eyes and clench his jaw for just a moment before he exhaled a breath.

"Where are you?" Daryl asked. "Can you say?" He then asked her in a much softer tone, not wanting anyone else to overhear. He wished this wasn't the only phone in the house and that the kitchen was crammed with people right now. It was a small blessing that Jeremiah and Joseph were fighting over the jar of strawberry jam.

"The Honey Dip in town," she answered and he swore the phone almost slipped from his hand.

" _My_ town?" He asked.

"I'm sorry," Beth quickly rushed out again.

Daryl ignored that. "Stay there. I'll be there in a lil' while."

With that, he hung up the phone and turned back towards the table.

"Who was that?" Merle was the one to ask.

"Someone I found online who was sellin' their animal trailer," Daryl said. "You know I don't like strangers havin' my number like that, but he's in town right now so I'm gonna go and take a look at it."

"Want me to come?" Oscar offered.

"Nah. Stay here and walk the fences and I'll be back in a lil' bit," Daryl said, grabbing his truck keys from the hook he hung them from on the wall. "Thanks for breakfast," he said to Pru. "Have a good day at school," he then told the twins.

"Thanks, Daryl," Jeremiah smiled and Joseph took opportunity of his brother being distracted for a second to snatch the jar of jam for himself.

"What are you doin' today?" Daryl asked Merle.

If he was going to be bringing Beth back here – shit, was that what he was going to do? – he would feel better doing it if his annoying older brother wasn't around.

"Got a couple of people I gotta see today," Merle answered and Daryl knew that would have been his answer and he already regretted asking the question.

Merle was a drug dealer. He was a drug addict. He only did two things with his days. Deal and use. Daryl wondered – not for the first time – how long Merle could keep doing this. Drug addicts didn't generally have a long life span, but his brother was already in his fifties and Merle just kept on doing what he did.

"A'right," he said to them all. "I'll see you all later."

He kept a normal pace from the house to his truck parked out front, not wanting to hurry so he didn't raise suspicion; not that anyone inside had any reason to be suspicious. He was just going to town… to talk to some famous singer who, it seemed, had the entire entertainment world wanting to know where she was.

Beth's cds were still on the front seat of the truck from the night before and Daryl was quick to shove them into the glove box before he drove down the dirt road, his foot a little heavy as it pressed down on the gas pedal.

…

The little town of Gary, Georgia was hardly a blip on anyone's radar. It was a little farming town with just one stoplight in the middle of town, but Beth loved it the instant she drove into it. It immediately reminded her of her own hometown even though Senoia had more than one stoplight.

She told herself not to come here. There were a million other places in this world where she could go to disappear for a little bit, but… honestly. Who on earth would ever even think of looking for her _here_? Why would Gary even be a place that anyone looking for her would even know of?

Once Aaron got her through the back door of the music store and handed her the keys to the car – she had no idea who's car it was – she didn't tell him where she was going because at the time, she hadn't even known herself where she was going – but she promised that she would call him the first chance she got.

She didn't even mean to go to find Daryl. _Why_ on earth would she go and find this man? She didn't know him. She had met him in a bathroom and he helped her escape some photographer who she flipped off and who wanted another. He was just a guy…

Just a guy who had had no idea who she was and Beth found it so refreshing and slightly intoxicating and she spent only a few minutes with him and she had felt so happy about the whole thing. But she couldn't do this. She couldn't just show up and expect him to be happy about it? Maybe he never wanted to see her again. Why would he? She was just some girl who he had helped and now, she was practically a girl from some Lifetime movie, stalking a man she had met for just a minute in time.

Pathetic had been the first – and only – word to come to mind, but Beth had been unable to steer the car in any other direction.

She drove through the night and came upon Gary just as the sky was turning a faint gray. The Honey Dip Donut Shop looked like a good place to stop – mainly because it looked to be the only business in town open this early. Not even the diner seemed open though she could see lights on in the back kitchen through the large front windows so it looked like it was about to be open, but she pulled in front of the donut shop and cut the engine.

Beth exhaled a breath. "What are you doing, Beth?" She asked herself, staring down at her hands in her lap as she continued sitting behind the wheel.

She pulled out her phone and sent texts to Aaron, her parents and Shawn, and Maggie – assuring them all that she was alright and she would let them know what was going on once she knew that for herself. Reports about her having run away would be out soon enough and the last thing she wanted was her family worrying.

Thankful for the slight nip of fall in the air, she had a gray beanie hat, which she put on now. Her blond hair was in two braided pigtails and she would have put on sunglasses – if the sun was even about the horizon yet, but wearing them right now would just draw more attention to herself and that was the last thing she wanted. She knew how small towns like this worked. If something stuck out or seemed a little bit odd, that was the something that the other people would remember.

She then took a deep breath and dialed the number that she had found on the cattle association webpage. A woman answered.

"Hello?"

Beth nearly swore. _Of course_ a woman had answered. What did she think? Daryl lived completely alone with no people – no women – around him? Beth could still see his face so clearly in her head. Of course a man who looked like he did had a woman who answered his phone at five-thirty in the morning.

Beth remembered herself. "Hi," she greeted because despite everything, she couldn't just hang up. Her parents had taught her better than that and that would be just too rude. "Is, um, is Daryl there?" She asked.

"He's out with the cattle. Let me go get him for you," the woman said and Beth heard her set the phone down and she could hear a murmur of voices talking in the room, but she couldn't distinguish what any of them were talking about.

Was that his family? His wife? His kids?

What was she doing? She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be calling him. He was just a guy she met and she was just some girl who he probably thought he would never see again; would never even dream of her just showing up at the crack of dawn on some random day, wondering if she could see him like some loony toon.

What was wrong with her?

She should just hang up. That was exactly what she should do. That was exactly what she was going to do. But then, she heard a slight rustle and then she heard him speak into the phone.

"'ello?" Daryl answered.

Her heart immediately rose up to her throat.

Beth left the car after hers and Daryl's conversation and headed inside. It was a small, warm shop that smelled like freshly-baked cake. There were a few men sitting on the stools at the counter, drinking cups of coffee, and everyone looked up when she entered. She held her breath, waiting for someone to have some type of reaction, but she got none and she nearly exhaled.

"Good morning," the waitress behind the counter, holding a pot of coffee in her hand, smiled. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," Beth stepped up to the counter. "Can I get a coffee and a maple frosted?"

"You got it, hon," the waitress smiled and went to fill her order.

Beth smiled, relieved that so far, still good. These people were curious because she knew that no one ever came through a town like this unless they were either lost or just passing through. They weren't looking at her as if they had any idea who she was and the longer it could be that way, the better.

There was a radio on the counter and it was turned to an early morning sports talk show. No way would they ever mention her on a program like this. Right now, it was the fall and the fall in the South meant a few things; one in particular. Football season was starting and right now, the radio host was talking about the Georgia Bulldogs and how their season was looking and an upcoming game they had against Auburn – a huge rivalry between the two.

Beth had grown up, watching college football every Saturday with her daddy and Shawn, but this past year, it had been a lifelong habit that had fallen away from her.

Maybe, if she stayed in Gary for a little bit, or even some random motel along a stretch of road, she'd be able to watch football game again.

…

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